Wednesday, September 25, 2013

after two weeks home from our 3 week vacation, I wondered how she would travel this time around.

She did wonderfully again and fell asleep at the same time as her bedtime and stayed asleep til we got to Grandma's house at 11ish.

She was greeted with open arms and Aunt kate swooping her out of her carseat and into the house:)

While we were in Kansas, Ryan's mom went digging for some of his baby things.

This ski mask was daddy's when he was a kid!

I stuffed her little head into it and she (un)happily wore it and was probably wondering why she was wearing it.

Lux seems to snooze really well when we're on vacation. She gets extra snuggly with whoever is holding her and falls asleep...

it's really pretty sweet.

You'll see numerous pics of her sleeping in this post. she was just so snuggly!

We took Lux to her first fair ever (and my first state fair).

It was SO fun.

Lux had such a big day with all the animals to see, people walking around, and noise.

The Brandenbergers are horse lovers.

All of them have grown up riding horses at a very young age, and the horse attractions are all their favorite things to see.

Of course, Daddy was thrilled to introduce the littlest Brandenberger to their love of horses.

look how she's listening to daddy and looking intently at all the horses riding around.

these daddy moments are the ones that make my heart swell with love for the both of them.

they make me so happy when they're together.

We saw this miniature horse and Grandma asked the lady if Lux could sit on the horse.

we LOVE this picture.

Miniature person on a miniature horse.

This is how we're gonna get her started with riding.;)

Grandma took Lux into the petting zoo to see the exotic animals.

Lux isn't big enough to pet yet, but it was still fun pointing out the animals and watching everyone feed them.

Although, we did hear quite a few times, "SOOOO cute!!!!" and then turn to find the people staring at Lux and not at the animals...

Sorry ya'll...she's not part of the petting zoo...

Sooooo...I"m glad I only birthed one;)

This poor momma pig...

we met the runt of the litter, Wilbur.

this horse and tractor are made out of BUTTER.

Crazy, huh?

We took a lunch break and Grandma fed Lux her meal and we changed her into some warmer clothes.

After Lunch, I was persuaded to go on the Old Mill Ride, which was supposed to be a scary haunted boat ride.

I HATE haunted creepy things, but i was intrigued, and Ryan said all the "scary" things were mechanical stuff like dragons and skeletons and stuff like that.

So in we went on a boat.

and it was NOT all mechanical stuff in there.

There were real live people popping out to scare you.

and one even grabbed our boat so that we could't go anywhere.

and it was pitch black for most of the ride.

So you can understand that I screamed the entire way, grabbed and probably clawed Katie, and ended up on the floor of the boat, because I felt safer there.

Dont judge.

It was scary.

and I'm a wimp.

Lux fell asleep on grandma's shoulder while we were looking around at vendors booths.

I think this is a sweet picture of them:)

we each got some yummy fair treats before leaving.

I loved the roasted corn and Katie enjoyed some deep fried cookie dough.

family photo!

Alexio loved seeing his aunt Kate. He's been feeling a tad bit neglected because everyone loves to hold and talk to his little sister, but aunt Kate always makes sure he's got some special attention and lots of cuddle time too.

Going to see her Great Grandma!

Four generation photo... Pretty cool that she got to meet her great grandma!

"Yo, this be my family!" Is what Lux seems to be saying.

And then she wouldn't look at the Camera, instead she just couldn't stop staring at her funny aunt.

Anyways,that concludes the trip to Kansas and Lux's travels. We had a great few days with our Brandenberger family, and Lux loved the attention, snuggles, and playtime with her Grandma and Aunt. It was really really sweet seeing her so loved and enjoyed.

For once in her life, she'll be staying in one place for a couple months where hopefully she can get into a nice routine. She's so adaptable and used to traveling that it shouldn't be too hard...should it?

We had such a good time with family that it was really kinda difficult to leave and go back to our quiet lives, but we'll hopefully get to see everyone again really soon.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

She's really quite expressive and loves to smile and "laugh"(with no sound;)).

She has already been in 10 different States and has become a really good little traveler.

She is intrigued with sparkly things; especially Daddy's wedding band and watch.

She's made a whole lotta friends in her three months and can babble and talk to them while raising her right fist to emphasize her points.

She's not sleeping through the night, but she's sleeping about 3 1/2 to 4 hour stretches, which is a big improvement from when she'd wake every hour. her longest stretch was 6 1/2 hours, and I was definitely hopeful for the next time to be the same, but it wasn't. Lol. Just keep waiting for that night;)

In month 3, Lux went on her first walk with a boy, Baby Charles, whom she actually never met, because they were never awake at the same time.

One day they'll get to talking and playing together though! Until then, their mommas enjoy talking while on a walk:)

Lux has many moments of contemplating whether or not to reach for toys.

Most of the time, she decides it's not worth it, and would rather wait for mommy to stop persuading her to reach for the toy and bring it to her.

She isn't too interested in the toys though, but hams up big time when someone is talking to her shaking the toy...but she's mostly interested in the person rather than the toy.

(here she is deciding whether she should reach for the toy or not.)

She decided not to, but was instead, much more interested in what mommy was saying.

Here's lux spread out on my lap watching America's Got Talent...

Unfortunately, she has figured out that big rectangle in our living room with moving pictures and sounds and especially loves watching football with her daddy.

But this pic is actually of her sadly looking the other way from me after mommy clipped her finger nails...and missed her fingernail:(

it was the saddest scream cry I've ever heard...and i apologized over and over again wanting to cry myself for inflicting pain on my baby girl.

Mommy and Lux go on walks everyday.

This was Lux's first walk in cool weather, but she got all bundled up in pink and enjoyed the cool crisp air as she fell asleep.

and this pic cracks me up...

Alexio always tries to snuggle in the blankets and will drag blankets all over the place and lay in them.

However, I don't think he realizes that Lux was snuggled under this blanket taking a nap...

They stayed this way about an hour.

Lux had her first playdate with two little girls only a month older than her, Annibelle and Melody.

We are hoping these three girls grow up to be dear friends, so frequent playdates are in order as they get older.

However, only two babies were awake at a time, the entire playdate..one would fall asleep, the other two would wake up, and they all kept rotating to who would fall asleep.

I didn't get a pic of annibelle while there (cuz I was snuggling with her when she was awake and didn't grab my camera), but here's Lux with Melody on the playmat.

Lux noticed what a pro Melody was at reaching and making those toys move!

She just stared in amazement and let Melody do all the work.

Ok, so this is a rarity.

Lux never naps in her crib.

But this day, I set her in there while i dug through her dresser and took out all the clothes that she had outgrown (I have a whole box and bag of clothes that don't fit already!).

While I was working in there, she fell asleep listening to "Gold" by Brit Nicole which is her FAVORITE song ever.

Though we are SO SICK of the song, we're thankful that we have that secret weapon.

And there we have it.

3 months of pure delight and bliss for this stay at home momma.

I love seeing her gummy grin, her deep dark eyes, and her expressive face.

She's getting chubbier and chubbier and when I wake up to nurse her in the middle of the night, i can't help but stroke her chunky cheeks and wrist.

Oh and she's liking this Bumbo seat which makes her look so cute sitting up like a big girl!

I pray for this little girl everyday and am so thankful to be her mom!

Dear Luxy Loo,

So thankful to have had these three months with you. I love how you're making new friends and smiling and laughing and letting others enjoy you too. You light up the room when you walk in, and everyone notices you. I pray that you will have a joy instilled in you that is contagious to others and that people will be drawn to you because of Jesus Christ in your life. I love you more and more each day and can't get enough of your sweet darling smile.